A symposium entitled "Natural and Adaptive Immune Mechanisms in Insects" has been-approved by the American Society of Zoologists Divisional Program Officers. The two day symposium will be held at the 1991 Annual Meeting of ASZ in Atlanta, Georgia. Seventeen investigators have been invited to come together and present their latest findings pertaining to our understanding of various aspects of the immune defense mechanisms that exist in insect species. The symposium will be subdivided into three major sections: Cell-mediated immunity in insects; humoral mediators of insect immunity; and, suppressive agents of insect immunity. The program win have all facets of natural and inducible immune responses in insects represented, as well as various naturally occurring agents or parasites that subvert insect immunity. To our knowledge, this will be the first time that both the inductive and suppressive side of insect immunity will be discussed in a common forum in such a comprehensive manner. This will provide a chance for the participants to interact and put their results into an overall perspective relative to the mechanisms involved in the biology of these responses and how they are regulated. The contributors to the symposium are either established investigators with prominent reputations in their respective fields, or young investigators who show great promise for the future. The major goal of the symposium is to bring together investigators who are studying different aspects of insect immunity, and provide them with a unique opportunity to exchange ideas that will lead to new interpretations of existing data, and the development of new collaborations and approaches for the future study of insect immunity.